Unbirthday Duet
by Fire-Chan9490
Summary: Poland has a depressing sort of unbirthday. So he coerces Liet into playing a song with him...


Lithuania had been awakened early that morning to the childish plinking of "Sto Lat" upon the old piano downstairs. From the speed and dynamics, he could tell that Poland was probably only using one finger. Which was strange, since Lithuania _knew_ that Poland could play well; he'd learned back in the 1800s with that pianist he'd been so proud of. He'd heard Poland play plenty of nocturnes and mazurkas. It didn't make sense that he would be having trouble with such a simple piece… unless…

He slapped himself on the forehead with a groan. Of course. July 22nd. He was _such _an idiot… Swinging himself off the bed, pausing only check quickly in the mirror to make sure he wasn't a complete mess – not that Poland would notice in his current state anyways.

Leaping the last few steps in his bare feet, he skidded to a stop at the sight of Poland's swaying profile on the piano bench. In his left hand was a bottle of Polish wódka, shot glass smashed to pieces on the ground at his feet. "Oh Poland…" Lithuania sighed.

Poland hiccupped slightly, turning to face him. "Like, hi, Liet," he giggled, eyes red-rimmed and swollen. "What are you doing up so early? It's like, totally still dark out." He motioned at the curtained windows. Lithuania could see the pale morning sunlight seeping through the cracks.

"It's not, Po," he said gently, trying to ease the bottle from Poland's hand. "It's light out. Come on. Give that to me. You've had too much already."

He only clung on tighter. "Noooo, Liet," he whined. "That's like, _so_ mean. I only had a little… And anyways, I'm a _nation._ I can handle it…"

"It's not good for you," Lithuania replied firmly, tugging it out of his grip. "Here. Stop playing on the piano like that. You're not well…"

"No, Liet," he moaned, his head flopping backwards so that he could stare up into Lithuania's face. "I'm _fine_… Give it… And I can play whatever I want… It's my birthday. Isn't it my birthday, Liet?"

Lithuania set the wódka down out of Poland's reach. "Your birthday's November 11th, remember? We're not Soviet anymore."

"Mmm…" Poland blinked blearily. "Yeah… but I like… I can't forget it, y'know? I mean… even if it was under that stupid Russia… I was still like… I was still on the map." His right hand danced faster across the keys, the melody tinkling out unevenly. "And I… I hate it. Liet, I hate it."

Lithuania captured Poland's twitching fingers in his own, abruptly cutting off the crazy tune. "I know," he whispered hugging his friend tightly. "But you can't forget it. None of us can. None of us _should._ It's part of us – all of us, even Russia. He couldn't help his bosses' decisions."

"He's such a bastard," Poland laughed shakily. "He's like, totally crazy."

"He is, but he never wanted to be," Lithuania explained patiently to the inebriated country. "He didn't ask for his history either." He sat down beside Poland on the bench. "You've done this almost every year since that time. Aren't you ready to let go yet?"

Poland shivered feverishly in Lithuania's arms, eyes darting around the room. "I… I don't know. Sometimes… some years, I think it maybe… it like, doesn't matter anymore. And… and sometimes, I _can_ forget. With you, I mean. But it comes back every time I see your back. And especially this year… It's only been three months since…" he trails off, breathing erratically.

"… the crash?" Lithuania finishes, when Poland fails to. "The Katyń memorial…?"

Poland nods, a sort of strangled sob emitting from his throat as he buried his face in Lithuania's chest. "It… It's like, totally not fair! It's always us, isn't it? It's always us… always the eastern Europeans… always the Polish. Why are we like, so unlucky all the time?" he demanded frustratedly, voice muffled. "Liet, why is it always _us?_"

"I don't know," he answered softly. "I don't know."

Poland stayed motionless for a few moments, slowly calming his breathing into a more regular pattern. "Hey, Liet?" he finally said.

"Yes?"

"Play with me."

Lithuania blinked confusedly. "Play with you…? What do you want to play?" He cast his eyes around the room. "I mean, there's always chess, but…"

"No, silly," Poland said, head popping up out of its comfortable position against his friend's body. "The piano. Play the piano with me."

"O… oh!" he exclaimed in realisation. "Right. Sorry." He released Poland, who more-or-less steadily placed his trembling fingers back onto the keys.

"I'm like, totally drunk, so I'll probably make a lot of mistakes…" Testing the keys he continued, "I know I taught you the duet, right?"

"Yeah. I remember. Sto Lat, right? You want to sing?" Lithuania glanced at Poland, who cocked his head, considering.

"No. You sing. I want to hear your voice. I'd like, totally sound like a frog right now."

"I will too," Lithuania warned, playing the opening harmony in the lower registers of the instrument. "I only just got up."

"I don't care."

Lithuania smiled as Poland tentatively struck his first notes.

"Sto lat, sto lat, niech żyje, żyje nam…"

* * *

Err... right. So I know I'm late. EPIC FAIL, right? Oh well. I'm going to go with the excuse that this is because Poland's real birthday is November 11th , as that's their national holiday, not July 22nd, so I can afford to be late. Ummmmm... yeah, random angsting. Uh, not much to say, except that the whole bit where Poland starts talking about how even though he was under Communist rule, he was still on the map... I'm not sure if that's accurate, but after 1939, he was completely wiped off, not to mention the partitions. So... I feel like he'd be kinda appreciative of being on the map, even if he hated why he was there in the first place. Just a thought...

Also, I've never thought of Russia as a bad guy, since no country chooses its own history and no country chooses its own leaders. I mean, I've never seen Germany as a bad guy, despite the Hitler thing. And what about Italy and Mussolini? Spain and Franco? There are tons of countries who have had not-so-great bosses, and yet Russia's the one who gets the most heat for it. I've definitely seen Russia as the villain much more often than I've seen Germany as the villain. I guess it's probably just the way his character is portrayed in Hetalia. *shrug* After the Bloody Sunday strip... yeah. (Although I must admit I will shortly be guilty of making him the villain... But hopefully he won't be completely _evil_ per se...)

I would also like to apologise for my failage at doing sensitive dialogue. Not so good at the whole hurt/comfort thing. Ohohoho... yeah.

If you can't figure out who the pianist Liet is talking about is, I'm going to come over there and bash you over the head with a music stand. With a few musical biographies to boot. So look it up before you comment with something like, "who's the pianist?". The Sto Lat duet thing was inspired by my playing a Happy Birthday variations duet with my piano teacher (epic fun, that was) so yeah. If you want to hear it, got to youtube (slash) watch?v=jYTK9im4dyc. That is all...

LONG NOTE IS LONG.

APH belongs to Hidekaz Himaruya, NOT ME.


End file.
